About the Citizens Now Podcast

If you’re someone who believes that young people matter in the here and now, not just in the future, you’re in the right place! The Citizens Now Podcast interviews young people from all over the world who are actively working to bring about positive social change. We take young people’s inherent citizenship seriously by recognising their capacity to make a meaningful contribution to their communities and wider society.

Using an interview-based audio-only format, in each episode we speak with a different young person (most aged 16-25) who is actively making a difference in their community and beyond. We explore what they’re learning about social change work, their motivations and what they can teach us about how best to support young people to effect change for themselves and others.

Deborah (aka Debs) Erwin is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland/the north of Ireland, and has been involved in youth work for over 20 years. Since 2015 she has been running her own consultancy working with youth-focussed organisations on a range of research, evaluation, facilitation, and strategic development projects and has an ongoing interest in youth work in ‘contested spaces’.

Throughout Deborah’s career her most powerful teachers have been the young people she’s had the privilege of meeting. Time and again they’ve shown her that young people care deeply about the people and communities around them and have so much to give.